Empress Eugenie

Eugenie Marie de Montijo (1826-1920) became empress of France as the wife of Napoleon III. The empress was considered the paragon of beauty and fashion in the French Court. She was famous for her extravagance.

Born a Spanish countess, Eugenie was taken on a husband-hunting tour of the capitals of Europe by her mother, reaching Paris the year before Louis Napoleon became emperor and was married to him in 1853, the year after he gained the throne. Politically meddlesome, Eugenie supported the conservative Catholic party and did whatever was in her power to delay a more liberal government in France. Eugenie served three times as regent of France, first when Napoleon was in Italy, also when away on his Algerian tour, and finally, upon declaration of war against Germany. On the eve of the Franco-Prussian War, Eugenie urged this policy. After the disastrous battle of Sedan in which her husband was captured, she escaped Paris as the streets erupted in violence and the palace was being stormed by an infuriated mob. With the help of her loyal dentist, an American, Eugenie got through German lines and sailed to England, where the Emperor joined her upon his release.

Napoleon and Eugenie were forced to live in exile from 1870 until her death in 1920.

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